For You, Anything
by Safaia
Summary: How far is Arthur willing to go for Cobb?


**For You, Anything**

Arthur wished he did not know how he had gotten here. He wished that there was some moment that was completely blank or forgotten because then this would not be real. He wished that his die would fall on the wrong number because then this would be a dream. Never before had he wished so much that this was all a dream and was not really happening. If there was some break in the recent time line, if he could not remember how he had gotten here, if his die landed on the wrong number, then this was a dream and he was not standing in front of Cobb, in front of his best friend, with a gun pointed between his eyes. Arthur wanted this to be a dream, he wanted a kick to come, he wanted to wake up but he couldn't because this was real.

He remembered every detail of how they had gotten to this point.

Arthur was not sure when he had decided that visiting Cobb sounded like a good idea. Sometime in the past year he had started to miss the crazy bastard. Despite the wounds and scars from Cobb's mind that he carried to this day Arthur did not hold any of it against him. Cobb had been sick back then and holding that against him was not fair. So he ignored the lingering pain in his knee that came back every now and then because he really did care about his friend more than most people realized. Arthur was willing to follow Cobb into the abyss but it was not on the top of his to-do list. Dragging everyone else into it with the inception job had been a bit too much for even him to swallow and it took a little too long for Arthur to completely forgive his friend. One day he woke up, decided that it was water under the bridge, and called the house.

"Cobb residence, Philippa speaking," Philippa's voice said over the phone and Arthur smiled; she had never sounded happier.

"Hey, Philippa, it's Arthur, can I talk to your dad?" he asked.

"Yes! He's right here, when are you going to come and visit?" she asked sounding oh so excited.

"I'm working on that but don't tell your dad. We need to make sure he's okay with it," Arthur said.

"Okay!" she said and there was the sound of a phone being passed from one person to another. He could hear a television in the background and James laughing.

"Hello?" Cobb said and his voice was octaves higher than it had been the last time they had spoken; he sounded like a different person.

"Hey, Cobb, it's me," Arthur said.

"Arthur? I was beginning to think you'd never forgive me after the last job," Cobb said and he legitimately sounded surprised.

"If I didn't know those two kids as well as I do I probably wouldn't have. Logically it made no sense but I can understand it," he said. "And because of that I was wondering if you had a problem with an old co-worker from the shadier days coming by for a visit."

"Don't be stupid, Arthur, you know you're welcome," Cobb said. They spoke for a moment longer before Arthur decided he would fly out that weekend. He still had the majority of the money left from the Fischer job and the rest he had saved from previous jobs. He had returned to work since Fischer and had worked with all of his previous teammates at least once. Ariadne was balancing school and designing levels, building a name for herself. Eames was the same, going from team to team and job to job as he pleased, and they still rubbed each other the wrong way. Yusuf had taken a little longer to get back into his good graces but it was all water under the bridge after all. He had forgiven Cobb, he could forgive anyone else. Grudges did not make sense so he did not see the need to keep one.

He rented a car at LAX and took his time getting to the house. He had a morning flight and he did not want to wake up the kids. By the time he got to the house it was almost lunchtime and he was sure that everyone would be up and about by then. Arthur climbed out of the car and adjusted his jacket over his shoulders. The weight of a gun was at his back and, despite how much safer he felt with it, he took off the shoulder holster and hid the gun in the car. He was only halfway up the steps when the doors opened and two little bodies ran outside. Without missing a beat Arthur picked Philippa up with one arm and James with the other; they were both starting to look a lot like Mal.

"Arthur!" James said throwing his arms around his neck and squeezing hard.

"Hey guys," he said and he carried them both back into the house. Cobb was standing in the doorway and he smiled when they met each other's eyes. Arthur set the kids down and they both ran into the house declaring that they had so much to show him. Miles looked up from the paper in the living room and waved. Arthur waved back and walked into the kitchen with Cobb.

"How long are you going to be in town?" Cobb asked as he poured two cups of coffee.

"Two days, give or take. I have some jobs lined up," he replied and he sipped his coffee. "I am insisting on taking you out to lunch or dinner though. I'm the one with the money after all."

"Fine, but if you don't play with the kids for a little while they are going to be insufferable," Cobb said with a smile. Arthur obliged and played with Philippa and James for a few hours. He could feel Miles' eyes on him the entire time; he had never had any conflicts of interests with Mal's father but he had a feeling that he was not entirely welcome in Miles' eyes. He was from a life that Cobb had left behind a year ago and he did not want to risk that happening again. The stare was enough for a few hours until the late afternoon settled it. It seemed his lunch was turning into a dinner. "All right, kids, grandpa is going to make you dinner while Arthur and I go get some food."

"Can't we come with you?" James asked.

"We're going to be talking about boring adult stuff," Cobb said and he kissed his son's forehead. Philippa came over and threw her arms around her dad. "We'll be back before you need to go to bed."

"Do you promise?" she asked.

"I promise," Cobb assured.

"I'll be back to see you guys again tomorrow, okay?" Arthur said and both of the kids nodded. Philippa gave him a hug and James made him do several high-fives before they got it 'right.' Arthur walked out to the car with Cobb and they started down the hill towards downtown. They rode in silence until Cobb opened the glove compartment and pulled out the gun.

"You expecting company?" he asked.

"You know how this business is, Cobb," Arthur said but he could feel that he was being watched carefully. "I'm not in any trouble I promise. It's more of a habit than anything else." They drove until they arrived at a nice hotel that they used to frequent with Mal. A year ago going to such a place would have caused something ugly and sad to ghost over Cobb's features but he seemed fine. They got a table and sat down. They ordered a round of drinks and Arthur watched his friend.

"I'm not coming back," Cobb said out of the blue and Arthur blinked.

"What makes you think I want you to?" he asked.

"You're not one for social visits, Arthur. You usually have something to present when you decide to grace us with your presence," Cobb said and that hurt a lot more than it should have.

"Yes, because I'm completely a person who would ignore the request of a friend because I need someone to work with," Arthur deadpanned and rolled his eyes. "I just came to see how you and the kids are doing. I have no ulterior motives." Cobb seemed to accept that and they both talked for several hours. Some of it was about work, some of it wasn't, and it really felt like he was catching up with a friend and not a co-worker. Arthur did not have much in the way of people he could consider a 'friend' first and 'co-worker' second. It was a nice change of pace. Cobb was even able to talk about Mal more, about the good times they had spent together. He was happy, he was at peace and just watching his friend was enough to make Arthur smile.

Arthur knew something was wrong when they were a mile from the house and there was smoke rising in the air. He exchanged a glance with Cobb and Arthur sped the rest of the way back to the house. When they arrived at the house it was completely engulfed in flames. There were no areas of the house untouched by fire and Cobb stared at it like his entire world was falling apart. There were no fresh tire marks on the ground, no evidence that someone else had been there, there was no indication of foul play. There was also no indication that anyone had left the scene either with all of the cars present. Just a house up in smoke and Cobb screaming for his kids, for Miles, and no one being there.

Cobb was about to make a dash into the house when Arthur saw the roof shift.

"Dom, you can't go in there, the roof is coming down," Arthur managed to scream over the roaring fire.

"My kids are in there!" he screamed but Arthur managed to pull him back as the entire house collapsed in a pile of fire and ash. They both sat on the ground completely flabbergasted as they stared at the house, at how nothing could have lived through that, at how everything Cobb cared about was gone again and this time there was nothing to go back to. "This isn't happening, this isn't happening. This is a dream, this has to be a dream." Cobb shoved Arthur aside and scrambled toward the car. Arthur managed to get there just as Cobb got his finger on the trigger. They wrestled for the weapon for a moment before Arthur managed to disarm his best friend.

"Cobb, you can't do this," Arthur managed to say. His voice was rough and he could see ash on his hands. Cobb stood before him, his hands and face blackened from the fire and a wild panic and fear in his bright blue eyes. He moved forward like he was going to try and take the gun again but stopped. He fell to his knees and Arthur's eyes widened.

"This is a dream, this is a dream and you need to wake me up," Cobb said.

"What? What are you talking about?" Arthur asked and he was too stunned to even react.

"Pull the trigger, wake me up, get me out of this nightmare," Cobb repeated and he moved towards the gun until it was pressed between his eyes. "Do it, wake me up, please, Arthur wake me up."

"This isn't a dream, Cobb," Arthur managed to say but his friend shook his head.

"No, this has to be a dream, maybe it was all a dream. Maybe I'll wake up to Mal sitting next to me and my children playing in my house. Yes, that's it, all of this has been one stupid dream and it's time to wake up." Cobb's voice was so broken and frantic. "You, Arthur, you're my best friend and I trust you. I trust you to do the right thing and wake me up."

"Dom, you're not asleep," he said in a low voice.

"No, this is a dream, this _has_ to be a dream," Cobb insisted and he pressed his forehead to the barrel of the gun. "You're my best friend, Arthur, you can do this, I know you can."

"But you're not-"

"And if I'm not then at least I'll have my family back one way or another," Cobb said and his voice cracked. "Think about it logically; if this is a dream I wake up and I'm fine. If not then-" he swallowed and it looked like it hurt. "Please, Arthur, I need you to do this." Arthur stood before his best friend, the one person in the world he trusted completely, down the barrel of his own gun. His best friend who closed his eyes and waited for a bullet to wake him up from a dream that he was not in. He reached into his pocket and clutched his die tightly in his hand because this was Cobb, this was Dom, the one person he felt any real loyalty to. There was such pain and anguish in his features, worse than the day Mal died, because now he had lost everything. Now Dom Cobb had nothing left in this world and he was begging his best friend to kill him, to wake him up.

Arthur closed his eyes tightly and pulled the trigger because he would do anything for Cobb.


End file.
